Not open for further replies. 1  Analy_Gr3at_4lif3 No Longer a Noob Joined: Jan 6, 2011. Messages: 10,741. 2  legacyAccount Old Account Joined: Nov 10, 2011. Messages: 4,475,670. 3  legacyAccount Old Account Joined: Nov 10, 2011. Messages: 4,475,670. 4  hcdizzle44 No Longer a Noob Joined: Jul 5, 2006. Messages: 20,045.
I have lived well over half my life (40+ years) in the Chihuahuan Desert but have traveled through, hiked and camped in every major desert of the United States and Mexico. I have also traveled the entire length of the Atacama Desert in Chile by land. Las Vegas is located on the northern edge of the Mojave Desert.
The first person of European ancestry to enter the Las Vegas valley was Rafael Rivera, who scouted the area in 1821 as part of Antonio Armijoâs expedition to open up a trade routeâthe Old Spanish Trailâbetween New Mexico and California. Rivera named the valley Las Vegas, âthe meadows,â after its spring-watered grasses.